L I B. II. Of the Advancement of Lear mug. j i 



bofom of the feeds. From this fpring, the opinion of Atomes is deri- 

 ved, which DcmocritHs maintain'd ^ and Lncippitt found out. But o- ^^V'-''* 

 thers, though they affirm only one Principle of Nature (27;*?/^/ watery 

 Anaximencs K\x ■■) HeraclitHsFne") yet they have defined that Principle, 

 which is one in Aft, to be various and difpenfable in power, as that 

 wherein the feeds of all natural efTences lie hidden. They who have 

 introduced the firfl Matter every way dilarayed, and unformed, and inrimei 

 indifferent to any form (as PUto and Arijiotle did ) came to a far nea- P'^V i' 

 rer, and natural relemblance of the Figure of the Parable. For they con- 

 ceiv'd the Matter as a common Courtezan '■, and the Forms as Suitors. 

 So as all the Opinions touching the beginnings of things come to this 

 point, and may be reduc'd to this diftribution , that the world took 

 beginning either ivom MercHry-y or Crova Penelope '^ and allher fuitors. 

 The third conceit of Pans Origipal is fuch, as it feeras that the Grecians 

 either by intercourfe with the iEgyptians^ or one way or other, had 

 hearth fomething of the Hebrew myfteries. For it points to the ftate 

 of the World not confidered in the abfblute produftion j but as it flood 

 after the fall oi Adam^ expos 'd and made fubjeft to Death aud Corrup- 

 tion: For in that flate it was, and remains to this day 5 theoff-fpring 

 of God 3 and of Sin, or Contumely : For the//% fin of Adam was a kind Gen.|; 

 of ContumeIy,when he rpould be like God. And therefore all thefe three 

 Narrations concerning the manner of r<««j Birth, may feem true, if they 

 be rightly diftinguifht according to things and times. For this Pan, 

 as we now behold and comprehend it, took beginning from the word 

 of God, by the means of confuted matter, which yet was the work of 

 God, and the entrance of Prevarication, and through it of corrupti- 

 on. 



§ The Dcjlinici may well be thought the (iflers of Pan, or Nature .• 

 for the beginnings, and continuances, anddilTolutions^ theDepreffi- 

 ons alfo, and eminencies, and labours, and felicities of things; and 

 whatfoever conditions of a particular Nature, are called Fates or Dejii' 

 flies : which yet, unlefs it be in fome noble individuate fubject, as a 

 Man, a City, or a Nation, commonly are not acknowledged. Buc 

 P<»», that is, the Nature of things^ is the caufe of thefe feveral ftates, 

 and qualities in every particular 5 fb as in refpeft of Individuals, the 

 chain of nature, and the thread of the Dcjiinies, is the fame. More- 

 over the Ancients feigned, that Pan ever lived in the open Air , bup 

 the Parc£^ or Dejiinies, in a mighty fubrerraneous Cave; from whence 

 with an infinite fwiftnefs they flew to men : becaufe the nature and com- 

 mon face of the Vniverfe is apert, and vifible 3 but the individual Fates 

 of Particulars are fecret, fwift, and fuddain. Bnt if F^/e be taken in 

 a more general acception, as to fignifie the more notable only, and not 

 every common event j yet in that fenfe alfo, the (ignification is corre- 

 ^ondent to the univerfal ftate of things 3 feeing from the order of Af^- 

 iure, there is nothing fo fmall which comes to paG without a Caufe 5 

 and nothing fb abfolutely great, as to be independent j fo that the ve- 

 ry Fabrick of Nature comprehendeth in the lap and bofbm thereof, eve« 

 ry event, fmall or great 3 and by a conflant rule difclofeth them in due 

 feafbn. Wherefore no marvel if the Parc£ be brought in,as the legiti- 

 mate Sillers of Pan : For Fortune is the daughter of the foolifh vulgar; 

 and found favour only with the more unfound Philofophgrs. Certain- 



